Shelving.



C. B. ULRICH.

SHELVING.

APPLICATION FILED ]AN-1l,19 l5| 1,227,703. Patented May 29, 1917.

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C.VB. ULRICH.

SHELV ING. v APPLICATION FILED JAN. I1, 1915.

1,227,703. Patented May 29, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

owns 13. names, or HOUGHTON, nircmem, ASSIGNOB 'ro .urr METAL consumerron comrm, or Jmns'rown', NEW our, a conronnrron or mssncnusnrrs.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 29, 1917.

Application iil'ed January 11,- 1915. Serial No. 1,598.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known'that I, Ormnms B. Umucn, a citizen-of the United States, residing at Houghton, in the county of Houghton and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shelving, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to shelving and more particularly to metallic, shelving.

'It is an object of the present invention to provide for the convenient assemblage of uprights and shelves in such a manner that the structure is braced and tied together through the instrumentality' of the uprights, the shelves and the connections therebe tween.

It is a further ob'ect of the present invention to entirely obviate the use of bolts, screws, rivets and the like, but at the same time to maintain a strong, rigid and durable structure. that can be conveniently put up and as conveniently taken down for the purpose of transportation or'storage.

A further object of the invention is to provide for. supporting the shelves at difler 'ent intervals so" as to varythe distance between shelves almost at will, and to do this in a very simple and eflicient manner.

A still "further object of the invention is to provide for sub-dividin the space between adjacent shelves a v rthe shelves have been put in place and without requirin the removal or shiftin of the shelves;

ith these and other 0 je'cts in view, the

tion and arr ngement of parts, as will be .the appen edi claims it being understood that changes in the, cm, proportion, size and minor details may be made, within the scope of the claims w thout departing from the spirit or sacrificing. any of the advan-,. ta es of the invention. Y i

n the drawings,f ta Figure 1 is a ragmen view of. shelving embodying 3c the resent invention.

perspective features of the l ne 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig.

L the lme- 3-3'of Fig. 2. Fig 4.is an inverted one oi the shelves of the present invention.

. whic such as shown at 1 in present inveition consists in the" cbmbinaa F1 2 is a detail sectional view taken on a' isa detailsectiona'l it. taken on perspective view 8 f Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one of the shelf-supporting brackets.

Fig. 6 1s a detail pers ective view of a form of shelf-supporting racket employed at one end of the shelving.

F1%. 7 1s a Iplari view of a blank from' the brac et shown in Fig. 5 is made.

F1 8 1s a plan view of the blank from who the bracket of Fig. 6 is made.

F g. 9 is a detail cross-sectional view illustrating the manner of inserting and withdrawing apartition.

Fig 10 is a. detail perspective view of a partition.

Fig. 11 is a detail sectional view taken throu h one end of a shelf and an adjacent uprig tgshowm a modified form of shelfsupporting brac et. a

Fig. 12 is a detail view of the form of spondingparts in each 'oftheseveral figures of the drawings.

The present shelvin includes uprights, gs. 1 and 2 o the drawings, each upright bein in the form of a metal plate extendin t roughout the height and epth oi the s elvin there bemg as many I uprights as may Ea'chupri'ght is provided with-a series of pairs of openings 2, each o ening being rectangular in shape and pro? the embodiment shown in Figs. 1,-2 and 3 of, the drawings. The openings of each pair are in horizontal alinement and the successive pairs are spaced at regular and preferably standard intervals so that the of openings ln-one upright will lie 'in ori zontal ahnem'eint w'i'th the corresponding openings in the other uprights.- Y

e Forthe support of the shelves, I employ shelfi pportmg brackets'such as shown in erably square in airs desired.

bracket is bent from a metalbla g j One such bracket is-provided for eac the opening and-then dropped down so that the webs 6 and 7 may lie at opposite sides of the upright, as clearly shown in Fig. 2

of the drawings. It will here be explained that the height of theopening 2 is slightly greater than the greatest height or width of the webs .6, so that the bracketmay be convenientl passed through the opening 2 and then ropped down into its position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. When in position, the body of the bracket rests upon the bottom edge of the o ening 2, while the webs 6 lie in substantial engagement with the opposite sides of the upright and thereby hold the bracket in a'substantially horizontal position and brace the same against tilting.

The, shelf of the present invention, best shown in Fig. 4 ofthe drawings, is formed from a singleblank of metal and includes a rectangularlbody portion 7 the front and rear edge portions of which are formed into a "hollow substantially tubular rib 8, which is substantially rectangular in crosssection, and depends from the body of the blank. The top and bottom of each rib are provided with corresponding openings 9 and 10, for a purpose as will be hereinafter explained. The side edges of the blank are "into t turned downwardly to form flanges 11, the ends of which are cut oil so that the flan may lie snugly between and brace the en s of the ribs 8. Neareach end of each flange .11, an ear 12 isLstrudk therefrom and extends inwardly in a substantially horizontal plane, 4

With four of the shelf-supporting bracketsin place, as hereinbefore described, two

in one upriht and two the opposite upright, a s elf is placed between the uprights above the brackets, the rib portions 8, of course, being at-the front and rear of the shelf, the shelf is lowered until' the projee'tingl end portions of the brackets come eseats, produced by the formation of the ears 12, with the latter lyin flat on the ,tops of the brackets and at t e inner sides'of the upstanding ears 4;- When this seated, the flanges 11' e in substantial en-. ga ment' with the inner faces of the uprig ta 1, and the extremities of theears 12 liein substantial engagement with the in-- ner faces of the upstandin brackets, whereby the uprig ts are properly ears 4 on the 'Fig. 9 of-the spaced and braced and are likewise tied together so that when a plurality of uprights and shelves have been assembled, the struc ture is maintained in a strong, rigid and durable condition without the use of bolts,

screws, rivets, or the like, and can be convemently taken apart whenever it is desired to remove the shelving for purposes of I transportation or storage. The'shelves can,

of course, be put in at any desired location where the openings 2 occur, so that the shelves may be spaced according to the vertical s ace desired between adjacent shelves. nasmuch as the seats reduced by the formation of the ears 12 em race the several brackets, asbest illustrated in Fig.3,

the shelf will be held against edgewise play front and rear of the shelving, and therefore loosenless of the structure is absolutely prevente As double brackets are not necessary and are not desirable at the end of the shelving, I .provide for this pu'r ose the form of bracket shown in detail m Fig. 6," wherein one of the ears 4 and one pair of webs 6 are omitted, and the end of the body 3 is bent down to .form a wing 13 to lie against the outer face of the adjacent upright, as clearly shown at the right hand side of Fig. 2 of the drawin I e A modi ed form of shelf-supporting bracket is shown in Figs. 11, 12 and 13, wherein the body 14. of the bracket is of rod metal, having its ends bent or directed upwardly to form ears corresponding .to the ears 4 of the bracket shown in Fig. 5. At the middle of the body of the bracket and in its opposite upright sides are grooves or recesses 16 which receive the .lower edges of the key-hole slot or opening 17 in the upright. It will be understood that the shelf may be applied 'to this form of bracket in the same manner as described for theform of bracket shown in ,Fig. 5. 4

In order that the space between adjacent shelves maybe sub-divided, l'employ a par titionsucli aashown at-18,' preferably in the I form of a'single piece of sheet metal havs an it, as at 19, and itsfr'ontand frear edges bent to form beads 20 snugly embracing the respective rods 21, "the extremities of which roject. at-the to and bottom of the partitloinas at 22 and :To lace this ngritstop and bottom edges folded over to t1 115 partition in position it is tilted-sfightly to the vertical-as illustratedin dotted lines in I I drawings, and then the studs or-pins 22am passed -upwardlythrough correspon g openings'10 in the lower sides of the front and rear ribs 839i the'upper shelf until the lower studs or'plns 23 are. clear of the bottom shelf, whereupon the partition is brought into an'upright positionnand then "lowered so as to bring the studs-or pins 23 into the desired openings 9 the lower been lowered to its lowermost position,

the partition will beheld in its whereby normal position. By providing a plurality of openings 9 and 10, the partition may be given various positions, or a plurality of partitions may be employed between the same shelves.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is 1. The combination of a pair of uprights having corresponding openings therein, shelf-supporting brackets detachably engaged in the openings of the uprights and each provided with an upstanding ear spaced from the upright, and a shelf provided at opposite edges with depending flanges having seats therein receiving the respective brackets and provided with inwardly extending projections to engage the inner sides of the respective ears.

2. The combinationof a pair of uprights having corresponding openings, of shelfsupporting brackets detachably engaged with the openings and provided with upstanding ears, and a shelf provided with depending flanges having ears struck up and extending inwardly from the flanges, said ears lying on the brackets at the inner sides of the ears thereon, and the edges of the openings in the flanges produced by the formation of the ears lying at opposite sides of the brackets.

3. The combination of a plurality of uprights having corresponding openings there' in, shelf-supporting brackets, eachbracket lying in an opening and projecting at opposite sides of the upright and provided at its opposite ends with upstanding ears and also provided with depending webs at opposite sides of the upright, and shelves, each shelf having opposite depending flanges provided I with seats receiving projecting bracket portions and provided with ears lying at the inner sides of the ears of the brackets.

a single blank of metal and including a body having upstanding transverse ears at its opposite ends and opposite dependinglongitudinal flangesprovided with corresponding bifurcations.

5. A shelf formed froma single blank of metal having opposite edges formed into substantially tubular ribs and provided with corresponding openings in the tops and bottoms of the r1bs.

6. A shelf formed from a single substantially rectangular blank of metal having op posite edges formed into substantially'tubular ribs provided with corresponding openings in the tops and bottoms thereof, the other opposite edges of the blank being formed into flanges extending between the ribs and provided with corresponding ears struck from the flanges and extending inwardly therefrom.

7 In shelving, spaced supporting mem bers formed with corresponding openings, a shiftable member insertible between the supporting members and adjustable to desired position by a combined tilting and rectilinear movement, and pins projecting to unequal distances from opposite edges of the shiftable member to enter correspondin selected openings of the supporting mem ers and retain the said shiftable member in the required adjusted position.

8. In shelving, the combination of upper and lower shelves and a partition therebetween, each shelf having its front and rear edges formed into substantially tubular ribs provided with corresponding openings in the tops and bottoms of the ribs, the partition being provided with upper pins for engagement with the openings in the under side of tween the lower shelf and the bottoms of the ribs on the upper shelf. p

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses. 4. A shelf-supporting bracket formed of E. W. SH'EPARD, W. M. HAR'IT. 

